Means for barber pole illumination



May 26, 1936- J. R. EMMERT ET AL 2,041,909

MEANS FOR BARBER POLE ILLUMINATION Filed April 15, 1954 Patented May 26, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MEANS FOR BARBER ROLE ILLUMINATION John R. Emmert, Berwyn,

and Arthur H.

Schwades, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Emil J. Paidar Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois The present invention relates in general to improvements in display advertising devices and is more particularly concerned with improvements in mechanically operated illuminated barher poles.

The latest type of barber pole in use at the present time, consists of a revolvable cylinder of fiber or other insulating material which carries encircling inert-gas or neon tubes of spiral form having correspondingly colored stripes forming a background for the tubes and intermediate stripes of white spirally arranged between the colored stripes thereon.

The foregoing constructionrhas proved expensive and necessitates the use of a relatively high voltage for the inert gas tubes, thereby necessitating additional expense for transformers and other equipment.

With the foregoing in view, the present invention seeks to.provide means for illuminating a barber pole in such a manner as to simulate the inert gas or neon tubes heretofore utilized, and at the same time provide a structure which is more economical to manufacture, less expensive to operate, and a structure which is not subject to the liability of breakage or other damage as is the case where the inert gas tubes are in fact used.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of an attractively illuminated display device embodying spirally arranged stripes,-the convolutions of which are alternately arranged as to color and are so constructed as to simulate the eifect of illuminated inert-gas tubes.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an illuminated barber pole havingnovel means for simulating the effect of neon tubes in the illumination thereof.

Another object is to provide a sheet of material of such construction as to enable it to be easily and readily utilized as a stock item to replace the paint on the ordinary barber pole cylinder, whereby the cylinder may be made to simulate the use of inert-gas or neon tubes.

Still another object of the present invention resides in the provision of a novel sheet of material which is adaptedfor mounting on a revoluble support to simulate the effect of a revolvable cylinder having illuminated neon tubes thereon.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved illuminated and revolvable cylinder for barber poles.

In accordance with the general features of the present invention, it is proposed to provide as a stock item, a strip of flexible transparent material such as cellulose acetate or the like and paint thereon parallel stripes of red, white and blue. These stripes should be painted. with a relatively heavy pigment color and should be 5 translucent to the passage of light therethrough. Over the colored stripes there is then placed a backing of black paint or other fairly heavy pigment material, this backing being so placed relative to the color stripes as to mask the marginal 10 portions of the respective stripes and leave an unmasked central portion in each of the stripes. With this arrangement, it will be apparent that this strip of material may be easily spiralled to form a cylinder such as used in barber poles and 15 the like. In forming the cylinder from the strip stock, it is preferable to spirally wind the strip so that the cellulose acetate layer will form the outer surface of the cylinder, and the layers of paint forming the colored stripes will be dis- 20 posed on the inside of the cylinder. The cylinder so formed may be mounted in any suitable manner for rotative movement and in practice would be surrounded by the usual glass casing such as now contained in barber poles of the 25 herein described type.

With the construction just described, the colored stripes when viewed from the exterior of the cylinder, present stripes having a substantially homogeneous color when illuminated from 30 the exterior of the cylinder, as when the device is operating in daylight.

At night, when the device is to be illuminated from a source of illumination placed within the cylinder, the stripes when viewed from the ex- 35 terior of the cylinder will have brilliant central portions and less brilliant margins, thus simulating in eifect the use of neon or inert-gas tubes.

The present invention has been found to be particularly. advantageous in its use in connec- 40 tion with a barber pole, in that it not only simulates the red and blue inert-gas tubes asused at the present time, but also produces a white stripe simulating an inert-gas tube. Such a result is not attainable with the present structures uti- 45 lizing inert-gas tubes, due to the difficulty of being able to produce an inert-gas tube which will emit a white light.

Other objects and features of this invention will more fully appear from the following de- 50 tailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a single embodiment thereof, and in which Figure l is a view in elevation of a barber pole embodying the present invention; 55

, stripes of homogeneous colors.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section of the revolvable cylinder of the barber pole, showing the appearance of the stripes when viewed from and illuminated from the exterior of the cylinder;

Figure 3 is a similar view showing the appearance of the stripes on the cylinder, when viewed from the exterior of the cylinder, but illuminated from the interior thereof;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary section of the cylinder as viewed from the interior thereof;

Figure 5 is a section taken through a flat strip of material used in the construction of the cylinder, this section being taken at right angles to the colored stripes thereon; and

Figure 6 is a plan view of a strip of stock material constructed in accordance with the herein described invention.

As shown on the drawing:

In the drawing, we have illustrated in Figure 1 the application of our invention to the usual type of barber pole case having a lower frame portion l which serves as a housing for the motor mechanism for revolving a rotatably mounted cylinder II having the usual red, white and blue stripes thereon. The upper portion of the case is provided with an illuminated housing l2. Between the upper and lower portions of the case and surrounding the rotatably mounted cylinder, there may be provided the usual fixed cylindrical glass case I3.

The illustrated barber pole is ordinarily mounted in a conspicuous place close to or adjacent the barber shop. The rotatably mounted cylinder is viewed from the exterior thereof, and during the daytime when there is sufiicient outside light, the surface of the cylinder presents a plurality of red, white and blue spirally formed At night, or when there is insufiicient light, to illuminate the exterior of the cylinder, the cylinder is illuminated from within by means of suitably disposed incandescent lamps l4, shown in dotted lines, or the like.

When the cylinder is illuminated from the interior source of illumination, the appearance of the stripes will be as shown in Figure 3 as compared to the appearance of the stripes under external illumination as shown in Figure 2. In Figure 2 it will be noted that the stripes are each homogeneous in color, whereas in Figure 3 the stripes have a light or brilliant central portion which is bordered by shaded or darker lateral margins, this simulating in effect the results obtained by the use of inert-gas or neon tubes.

The stock material, as shown on Figure 6, for use in the rotatable cylinder comprises a strip of flexible transparent material such as cellulose acetate 01 the like which is generally indicated at IS in Figure 5. One surface of this strip is painted with translucent paint to define red, white and blue stripes as indicated respectively at I6, I! and [8. In the application of the paint defining these stripes, it has been found preferable to first apply the red and blue stripes, which are allowed to dry. The white paint is then applied between the red and blue stripes and over the marginal portions of the red and blue stripes, leaving the central portion l9 extending longitudinally of the red and blue stripes and which is free from the white paint. The white paint is then covered by a relatively heavy pigmented black translucent paint as indicated at 20. Where the black paint is extended over the marginal portions of the white stripe I! which is visible from the uncovered surface of the cellulose acetate, the inner marginal edges of the black paint associated with the white stripe are terminated so as to leave a longitudinally extending central portion 2| of unmasked white paint. In the case of the red and blue stripes, the white paint and the black paint cooperate to mask the marginal edges thereof.

With the arrangement just described, it will be evident, that, when the strip of stock material is 10 viewed from its covered side, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, there will be a central longitudinally extending portion in each stripe which is not masked by the black and white paint. When a cylinder formed from this stock material with the unpainted side of the cellulose acetate layer disposed outermost and the painted side thereof innermost, and is illuminated from the outside, the stripes will appear as shown in Figure 2 to be of homogeneous colors. On the other hand, when the cylinder is illuminated from the inside, the stripes take on the appearance as shown in Figure 3, where the central portionsof each stripe, are more brilliantly illuminated by the light passing therethrough than the marginal portions of the stripe which are masked as explained above. The marginal portions of these stripes when illuminated from the interior of the cylinder are shown at lBa, Ila and [8a respectively.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that this invention provides an improved material for use in the construction of the rotatable cylinder of a barber pole; which may be economically and inexpensively produced; which will simulate the effect of illumination from inert-gas or neon tubes; and which is not subject to the liability of breakage, damage or other objections attending the use of neon tubes.

Now, it is, of course, to be understood that although we have described in detail the preferred embodiment of our invention, the invention is not to be thus limited, but only insofar as defined by the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. As an article of manufacture, a strip of cellulose acetate having alternately disposed stripes of translucent coloring matter thereon, and masking stripes of relatively highly pigmented material overlying the marginal portions of the translucent stripes.

2. As an article of manufacture, a flexible strip having a transparent surface, alternately disposed translucent stripes on said surface, and spaced stripes overlying and masking the marginal portions of the translucent stripes.

3. As an article of manufacture, a flexible strip having a transparent surface, alternately disposed translucent stripes of different colors on said surface with their lateral margins overlapping, and other stripes in staggered relation to the translucent stripes, said other stripes extending over the marginal portions of the translucent stripes to define less translucent marginal portions in said translucent stripes.

4. As an article of manufacture, a flexible transparent strip having a plurality of alternately disposed differently colored stripes of translucent material thereon, and. a highly pigmented material applied over the marginal portions of said stripes to produce less translucent areas.

5. In a barber pole, a rotatably mounted cylinder, said cylinder being formed by securing in a spiral, a single stock strip of transparent flexible material having a plurality of translucent colored stripes extending in parallel relationship to the lateral edges of said strip, each of said stripes having its marginal portions masked with a highly pigmented material and a longitudinally extending unmasked central portion, whereby the cylinder, when illuminated from within, presents the effect of spirally extending illuminated inert gas tubes.

6. As an article of manufacture, a stock strip comprising a strip of a translucent flexible medium, a plurality of colored stripes extending 1ongitudinally of said medium parallel to its lateral edges, each of said stripes having its marginal portions masked with a highly pigmented material to define a central unmasked portion extending longitudinally of each stripe.

'7. As an article of manufacture, a stock strip adapted to be spirally wound with its edges abutting to form a cylinder such as used in barber poles having alternately disposed colored stripes extending spirally of the cylinder, said stock strip comprising a base strip of flexible transparent material, alternately disposed translucent stripes on a surface of said material, and masking stripes extending over adjoining marginal portions of the translucent stripes, such masking stripes having their contiguous edges in spaced relation to define unmasked central portions in the respective translucent stripes extending longitudinally thereof.

JOHN R. EMMER'I'. ARTHUR H. SCHWADES. 

